Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen has always had a tough task ahead of her to meet the targets of the Malaysia Tourism Transformation Plan 2020.
The hope is that by 2020, 36 million tourists will visit the country annually, bringing with them contributions of some RM103.6 billion to gross national revenue.
Yet, despite the challenges, the figures that Dr Ng has already achieved are admirable.
In the first five months of this year, Malaysia welcomed 9.45 million international tourists, resulting in the generation of RM21.8 billion in revenue – roughly RM2,309 per person, being spent on anything from accommodation to shopping.
That’s roughly a 1.2 per cent increase in the number of visitors during the same period last year. And they’re spending more – approximately RM15 extra per person.
Having recorded 24.7 million tourists last year, the aim for 2012 is to reach 25 million.
Given that the first few months of the year are hardly peak season, the outlook is good.
Malaysia, she pointed out, was also beginning to see more tourists coming in via scheduled chartered flights, which was reflected in the increase in arrivals from China, South Korea and Taiwan.
It’s a relatively untested revenue stream and something the Ministry is looking into tapping. In the January to May period, a total of 62,647 tourists arrived via chartered flights, contributing RM150 million in revenue.
Ng said the ministry was looking at bringing in 120 chartered flights from Russia alone.
“This is to provide tourists a chance to visit Malaysia especially during their winter seasons,” she said.
“For this, the ministry has allocated RM22.8 million to promote and support international airlines in their efforts.”
And once the tourists were over here, it was important to create value-added packages that would see them spending more time and more money in the country.
“Cycling is very good for district tourism. It can open up small towns to tourists who want to experience something different,” she had suggested earlier.
“The ministry is not in the business of selling products. We are just a platform. Since we have promoted cycling as a tourism product, tour operators must be smart and take it as an opportunity to sell the product.”
Her words echoed the Deputy Prime Minister last week. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the development of the Malaysian tourism sector must be based on the National Key Economic Area (NKEA), which targeted an increase in the duration of stay and total expenditure by the tourists.
By offering more downstream value for tourists than the competition, there is even more hope that the 2020 targets would be met.